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Delaying Retirement pp 147–169Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Germany: A Successful Reversal of Early Retirement?

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Abstract

Until the early 1990s German pension policy was based on a culture of “early retirement.” The result was that retiring before the official retirement age was more the rule than the exception. In the 1990s policymakers became aware of the financial burden this policy of “early retirement” in combination with the aging of the German society was causing and introduced several reforms with the aim of prolonging work life. Consequently, the actual retirement age is rising and older workers’ employment rates are increasing. Conversely, highly educated white-collar workers are the ones profiting most from the policy shift, suggesting the reemergence of social inequality in the transition from work to retirement.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One very topical development in Germany is the reestablishment of the early retirement option via the public pension system after a set number of contributing years. The Rente mit 63 (“retirement at 63”) allows workers to retire 2 years before the official retirement age of their birth cohort if they have contributed to the public pension system for 45 years.

  2. 2.

    The exact duration depends on the beneficiary’s age: 15 months for older workers aged 50 or older, 18 months for those 55 or older, and 24 months for those 58 or older.

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  1. Institute of Gerontology at the Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Moritz Hess

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  1. Moritz Hess
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Dirk Hofäcker

  2. Institute of Gerontology at the Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    Moritz Hess

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Stefanie König

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Hess, M. (2016). Germany: A Successful Reversal of Early Retirement?. In: Hofäcker, D., Hess, M., König, S. (eds) Delaying Retirement. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56697-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56697-3_7

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